# Scopes v. State

> Tennessee Supreme Court · January 17, 1927 · 154 Tenn. 105

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3891846

## Case

- **Full name:** John Thomas Scopes v. the State
- **Court:** Tennessee Supreme Court
- **Decided:** January 17, 1927
- **Citations:** 154 Tenn. 105; 1 Smith & H. 105; 289 S.W. 363; 53 A.L.R. 821; 1926 Tenn. LEXIS 109
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by McKinney
- **Judges:** Chiee, Green, Chambliss, McKinney, Swiggabt, Haul
- **Cited by:** 42 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3891846

## Opinion text

McKinney, J.
(dissenting).
An elemental rule of statutory construction, which is well stated by Mr. Justice Sutherland in delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in
Connally
v.
General Construction Company,
46 Sup. Ct. Rep., 126, is as follows:
‘ ‘ That the terms of a penal statute creating a new offense must be sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it what conduct on their part will render them liable to its penalties is a well-recognized requirement, consonant alike with ordinary notions of fair play' and the settled rules of law; and a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law.
International Harvester Co.
v.
Kentucky,
234 U. S. 216, 221 , 34 S. Ct., 853 , 58 L. Ed., 1284 ;
Collins
v.
Kentucky,
234 U. S., 638 , 34 S. Ct., 924 , 58 L. Ed., 1510 .”
Applying the foregoing rule to the statute here involved, I am of the opinion that it is invalid for uncertainty of meaning. I, therefore, respectfully dissent from .the contrary holding of my associates.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3891846. Public record. Not legal advice.